Do you think it takes magic to write a great headline? Nothing could be further from the truth. It just takes a touch of talent, mixed with a bit of technique. And great writers are highly sought after and highly paid.

Copy legend, Joe Sugarman, teaches the number one rule of copywriting: every single sentence is written to make you read the next one. A great heading makes a promise to the reader. The job of the article is to deliver on that promise.

Appealing to your reader’s emotions is crucial. You must understand their wants, needs and desires and create emotional and passionate copy. A great heading is punchy and short and quickly conveys your article’s main premise.

They dont have to be creative or funny — the opposite is actually true ” its sometimes better if their not. Good headings are almost never cute or clever. Cute or clever titles rarely pull readers. (One of my most creative was Roasted Penguin Tastes So Good It Would Make Gandhi Slap His Kids! It was cute; it was clever; and it failed miserably.)

Writing headlines is an art; youll want to spend a lot of time crafting this component. Not everyone is successful in crafting attractive and eye-catching headlines. This means if you can master the ability, youll be light-years ahead of the competition.

Writing headlines is much like writing a song. In a song, the words must be appealing and in harmony with the music. The same is true in copy. A banner must sing. In other words, it should be in harmony with the story and sound satisfying to the reader.

Good titles are active. And short. They should only say what is necessary to cover the main idea. Promise a benefit to the reader, then support that benefit with short, simple paragraphs. Give them more benefits in the body copy as well.

Their purpose is to entice us to read on, to rouse our curiosity. I once heard a good headline is like a good pickup line. While they never get you the girl, they buy you a few more minutes to plead your case.

Amusing headlines can work ” more so in offline advertising. No one types humorous headlines into a search engine. Online its more important to create clear, concise, keyword-rich lines. These are far better than witty and obscure. Google actually rewards your relevance by placing you higher and higher in the listings which is what we all want, right?